Recovering Infrastructure Public-Private Partnership Projects as Effective «Epinomic» Policy in Fighting the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The emergency conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 made the national governments the last resort, which was forced to bear all the financial costs associated with the lockdown in the national economy, with social support of the population and fiscal and monetary help to private firms which business was blocked. Lockdowns, publicly declared in countries around the world to stop the exponential growth of coronavirus-infected patients, have brought unprecedented losses in both human lives and national welfare. As a result, the coronavirus pandemic left two fundamental priorities for the state: (1) to stabilize the epidemiological situation in the country and (2) to reopen the economy in time after the lockdown. On this basis, the term "epinomics" was introduced, which assumes the primary public task to ensure the life and health of citizens, and only under this condition allows the possibility of economic recovery. In this case, the expansion of the practice of implementing public infrastructure projects on the basis of public-private partnership realizes the essence of the state’s epinomic strategy. Moreover, in the post-COVID-19 future, infrastructure projects can become an effective form of implementation of the UN “human-first” model, since they allow solving the immediate problems of ordinary citizens mostly affected in 2020. It is about the growth of employment, the provision of workforce wages, development of socially significant infrastructure, which contribution to the economic revival of countries can hardly be overestimated. At the same time, the government through public-private partnership gets the opportunity to directly broadcast to society the results of the effectiveness of its epinomic strategy in stabilizing the epidemiological situation and reopening the economy after the lockdown.

A review of COVID-19’s impact on modern medical systems from a health organization management perspective

“…As cases in the United States spiked in cities like New York, initial partnerships were reactive and philanthropic [ 21 ]. After the United States Congress passed their liability waiver on March 18, 2020, 3 M was able to adapt their respirators – initially designed for industrial use – into masks for medical use [ 22 ].…”

Tackling covid-19 crisis through energy efficiency investments: Decision support tools for economic recovery

“…Another possible way of financial models’ decision support suggests alternation in the relations between the government and the business community within the framework of the public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism [ 64 ]. This supports the public authorities in the decision-making process to develop an energy efficiency project as a PPP so as the interaction and mutual trust between the state and society to be ensured [ 65 , 66 ]. This kind of partnership also provides the benefit of combination the private sector technology and innovation with public sector incentives to complete work on time and within budget, which may accelerate the whole process of the project implementation.…”